Work on Evolution’s Hand Book 3: Primary Target dominated my time this week, which makes sense. All three of my goals for this week dealt with that book. Did I hit those three goals? Did I get all energetic and accomplish even more? I’ll fill you in after we talk numbers.
Progress Report 2022 Week 25 By the Numbers
The word count continues to inch upwards. But, man, the pace feels glacial!
It was another week of 8,000 to 9,000 words of new work. I really want to hit 10,000 a week, but I had a couple of things interfere. One was a Real Life Family Event (RLFE). The other was a need to go back and pick up some of the threads in Matsushita Sachi’s previous chapters. It took extra time, but I think it was worth it. There’s a lot going on in these early chapters, and I want to carry forward the hints and clues I’ve been dropping!
Progress Last Week
I had three goals last week:
- Write Ira Malhotra’s Pinch 1
- Write Dek Conrad’s Midpoint
- Review the next Midpoint chapters to make sure I have the order right; I suspect a re-order might be in order
I finished the first goal, which was a lot of fun, though I don’t think Ira Malhotra would describe it that way. Regarding option three, I did end up shuffling a few of the midpoints around. The story of Dek Conrad and Matsushita Sachi is to intertwined that I moved her midpoint right beside his. That meant his midpoint is split between multiple chapters that interleave with hers.
It’s a tough section for both of them. It’s hard particularly on Matsushita. She’s trying to keep alive a hope born over a thousand years ago. I don’t care how confident you are. That’s hard!
In a way, publishing Evolution’s Hand Book 1: Executive Action makes me more self-conscious about my plot points. I think it’s good that I ask myself if readers will like any given plot point. On the other hand, I don’t want to paralyze myself! I don’t want to overstate this. It’ll be easy to overcome. The self-consciousness is just a bit more than expected!
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2022 Week 25
- Finish Dek Conrad’s midpoint
- Finish Matsushita Sachi’s midpoint
- Start Atticus Porter’s midpoint
I hope that I can pick up the pace a bit after I get through these three midpoints. There’re so interrelated that I’ve had to think a lot about sequencing. We’ll see!
What Do You Think?
Have you faced a higher level of self-scrutiny after publishing your first book or two? Any tips for how to not over or under correct? I’d love to hear about your experience! Feel free to share in the comments!